GENE ZALESKI
The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.
(TNS)
Calhoun County is taking steps to equip its newly constructed Sandy Run fire substation in preparation for when the station becomes operational in about two months.
Calhoun County budget includes tax hike
Calhoun County Council approved a budget that includes a tax increase.
County Council unanimously agreed Monday to the purchase of extrication equipment for $52,637 from Spartan Fire.
The equipment will go on the pumper tanker and the ladder truck to be housed at the station, County Administrator Richard Hall said.
“An invoice was submitted to be processed right at the end of the budget year for the Sandy Run Fire District,” Hall said. “It is something that we use. It is a county standard extrication gear. Spartan Fire is the vendor, so it matches our other items.”
The new Sandy Run station is currently under construction. It will be used to stage equipment in the next four to five weeks and be completed in about eight weeks, said Hall.
The procurement for the county’s future Sandy Run substation comes as the Sandy Run fire department has stopped responding to fire calls, citing its inability to reach a fire service contract agreement with the county by the July 1 deadline.
Calhoun County says the Sandy Run area continues to have fire service coverage provided by surrounding departments.
The Sandy Run Fire department has always operated under a special purpose tax district and never as a part of the county.
An ordinance passed April 28 by Calhoun County Council dissolved the existing fire districts and consolidated them into one district.
The Sandy Run department has consistently opposed the formation of the consolidated fire district, saying it will undermine the autonomy and community-focused service that the fire district has provided for decades.
The fire department has operated as its own fire district and has never needed a contract with the county to provide fire services.
“Calhoun County officials are actively reaching out to recruit our volunteer members for the new fire station just miles from ours,” the fire district said in a statement earlier this month. “This is a direct overreach and an absolute insult to a department that has proudly served Sandy Run and Calhoun County since 1977 — built by the community, for the community.”
“Instead of working with us to find a way to support a proven, equipped local department, the county is preparing to spend hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars to equip a new station, while residents continually face rising taxes,” the department continued. “This decision is particularly concerning given the recent substantial tax increases imposed on Sandy Run and county residents.”
“This isn’t at all about safety. It’s about control,” the district said.
The Sandy Run Fire Department says negotiations with the county have stalled primarily over equipment ownership.
The department says with the exception of the new ladder truck, the new tanker truck currently on order and the new fire substation, all other equipment currently held by the Sandy Run Fire District was purchased using funds from the Sandy Run Special Purpose Tax District.
County resident Dennis Spilde told council that rumors are circulating about the Sandy Run Fire Department.
“There are so many innuendos going around, you would not believe,” Spilde said. “You need to get out in front of this somehow. Perhaps come to some sort of agreement – whatever it is that is agreeable to everybody – or else those rumors are just going to get worse.”
In a related matter, council unanimously approved the purchase of self-contained breathing apparatus tanks for fire departments on the lower end of the county and for the new pumper and ladder truck at the new Sandy Run substation.
Hall said the tanks are demonstration models with less than four hours use. The county will purchase 12 of them at a savings of about $3,000 per unit.
Hall said the final total cost of the equipment is currently unknown but it would be less than $75,000.
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